Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, bloggers, and readers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!). Check out all the other awesome snippets by clicking on the picture above.

I’m still posting from Onyx Sun, a science fiction novel that is currently in revision. The revisions are turning out to be more complex than originally expected so the release date is, um, to be determined. (I’ve given up trying to predict one, but I have at least one more round of revisions after the current one, and my goal for Camp NaNoWriMo this month is to finish this round.)

Picking up from last week with more of Luzita’s first encounter with Ayess. And I still haven’t gotten to this point in my revisions yet, so you may need to squint.

“Leave me alone,” she said as he turned toward her. “Don’t touch me.”

“I will not harm you,” he said softly. “My name is Ayess. You must be Luzita?”

“You should know. You bought me.”

“No, I did not. You were bought by the captain, as was I.”

She glanced at him and quickly looked away again. “You’re not a slave.”

“Not anymore.”

His answer was so soft that she glanced up at him again and then jerked her gaze away. “What did you have to do to earn your freedom?’ she asked, a sneer in her voice.

“Nothing.” He smiled. “Come.” He put a hand on her upper arm and she jerked away. “I will show you to your cabin. The captain will be back soon and will explain.”